I am considering buying the Kimber, and thoughts on reliability, balance and overall quality.

I saw one a while ago I wish I would have bought. I ended up with a classic ss win 70 375h&h. I'll end up paying $500 for a stock and wishing I would have went with the talkeetna. I've never owned one but have several montanas and would say go for it.

I kinda lean the other way. I too bought a stainless classic 70. I had it the barrel cut to 20", put a newHogue aluminum pillared stock on it with a Burris Signature Safari illuminated reticle 1.75-5x scope on it and a trigger job. I grin every time I handle it.

My buddy has a Sako .375 that's quite the shooter too.

Nothing wrong with the Kimber, but for that kinda money...

hglass,

I have a Talkeetna, but I have not huneed with it. I am also building a Model 70 classic stainless .375HH.

You cannot build a rifle that has the features of the Talkeetna for the money they sell them for, that is why I purchased it.

It has a quality stock which will cost you $550.00 min., and the magazine holds 4 down which will cost you additional bottom metal cost, as much as $600.00 for Sunny Hill, a barrel band, and a light contour barrel. To purchase a Winchester or Remington donor and purchase the parts and have a quality smith install them you will have considerably more in it than a Talkeetna. I know this because I am in the process of doing just that. I am willing to spend the extra money to have a Model 70 Classic Stainless with the quality features of the Talkeetna.

I think the Talkeetna is a good value.

Ed

bigwhoop has/had a Talkeetna. Drop him a line.

The Talkeetna has a SS Krieger barrel.
Blind mag that holds down 4 rounds.

Stock that is every bit the equal of a McMillan in construction and quality. The ergo's and design aid in diminishing felt recoil.

Gentry barrel band, and NECG sights.

And weighs in under 8lbs naked (mine went just a hair over 7 3/4 before I chopped the barrel to 20.5")

A lot of rifle for the $$ IMHO.

I'm out of Talkeetnas for now. Bought a NIB Win. SS Classic 375 H&H and have a McMillan waiting to be bedded. Just too damn hot to play at the range. I like both rifles. I took the Talkeetna to AK. twice and got a nice Mt. Brown Bear, in the Talkleetna Mts.. The assistant guide had a chopped Talkeetna. The Kimber went through a many miles of snowmobile riding, snowshoeing, river crossings, over 100 miles of air boats and never failed me. The Talley QD's were rock solid as my return trip to the range proved.

However there was one thing that always made me very aware of my technique. In the event of some sort of failure to eject or me short stroking a second round, you were in trouble without a floorplate to bail you out.

I should add that the stock design and recoil pad "foot print" is absolutely the best. The rifle shot like a varmint rifle and I have many 200 yard targets that would make one raise their eyebrows. However it was that blind magazine that just put the tiniest of concern in my mind. For all other N.A. big game - no problem.

Talk of modifying a Montana kevlar stock has come up here not that long ago - to add a floorplate. I think it is a design and strength issue that is at issue. Cerainly all bets are off with the Kimber warranty if you tried it.

I just picked up a M-70 Stainless Classic .375H&H. It's a NH gun with the fold down rear sight. I'm going to get one of the older M-70 Express sights that doesn't fold. The Tupperware will probably give way to a McM, but I'm not sure which one. The McM Classic is shaped more like the factory synthetic, which allows a good cheek weld for iron sights. The McM Safari has a cheek piece and the comb looks higher. I like the Echols Legend, but the comb looks higher than the Classic.

A few weeks ago, I had a nice conversation with D'Arcy Echols. What a nice guy. He took a lot of time to answer my questions. He said the Legend was made for scopes but did OK with high irons.

What McM are you putting on your Classic SS M-70?

DF

'whoop,

That's the only "issue" I have with the Talkeetna as well.

I seem to recall Headache (former Kimber employee and had a big hand in the Talkeetna development and design) recommending against attempting to install/fabricate a bottom metal for the Talkeetna.

For a M70 .375 H&H I would look hard at either the Echols pattern or the Bridges pattern from HCR.

I have an Echols Legend on my M70 .458WM and my rifle remains un-scoped. A good firm check weld on the stock is needed for the iron sights.

I recently ordered the Winchester Express New from Rick for my 416 M70. I was considering the Legend and exchanged email with D'Arcy but was concerned about the comb height as well. We shall see.

Bigwhoop,
Really, lack of a floor plate turned you off...because you might short stroke. I'd alway go without a floor plate if I had a choice. Some rifles just aren't available without them...especially wood stocks which I tend to lean towards. Floor plates are nice to dry an action at night, but serve no other real purpose to me.

As I have heard, the Kimber will not allow the magazine to be fed straight down due to the acion opening length being less than the OAL of the 375 H&H. Is this true?

probably but the M70 in .375 also has an ejection port shorter than the .375 H&H cartridge

I'd build, or go with a used 70 at this time and add one of D'Arcy's handles on it when time allowed.

Dober

nice, Mark

You'd like it Toad, and yeepers does it shoot. Thinks it's a yote rifle. Been thinking of putting my 3-10 Leo w/M1 on top again for the elk opener. It has some ranging ability to it.

Dober

Interesting. I was under the impression that Kimber designed the action for the longer rounds.

Dober,

What length is that barrel? I just picked up a used .375 H&H Stainless Classic as posted earlier and am trying to decide on the barrel length. Some like 20.5", others 21". I want to shorten it some, as the factory pipe is pretty beefy. I think a shortened heavy tube will handle better than a long heavy tube. And those Winchester barrels are too good to shuck and replace, IMHO.

I may go with the Winchester Tupperware handle until I decide what to do.

DF

23" and no doubt I'd with with one of D'Arcy's handles

Dober

I'm 100% with Dober... I'd build a 375 H&H on an M70 and drop it in one of D'Arcy's stocks.

I'm not a Talkeetna fan.

Does the Caprivi also have a Krieger barrel?

This is not true. The magazine will allow rounds to be fed straight down. The maximum magazine allowable OAL is 3.640".

Right. "Headache" warned against modifying any Montana to retro-fit a floorplate.

I agree with this up to the Talkeetna cartridge and purpose. Lord knows I have had a few dozen Kimbers in the past 12 years, I suppose. I still bought the Talkeetna because I like the brand.
However, for dangerous game, I have opted to go with an available floorplate. Put it this way, I would sooner have a Talkeetna than a Ruger #1.

Different question than what you answered. The magazine must allow that. Is the receiver cut out > or = to the 3.640" OAL? The gent above says no.

There was never any problem loading rounds and certainly none when extracting and ejecting live rounds. Hope that covers it.

Funny stuff.

That's it.

toad covered it fine.

I've used a Talkeetna for three years and found it to be very reliable and very accurate. The balance point is about at front action screw making it a bit muzzle heavy as most long barreled rifles in synthetic stocks will be. I borrowed a bore scope and checked out several of my rifles and found the Talkeetna's Krieger barrel to be the smoothest machining.....better than my two Dakotas even.

My two cents on floor plates......I HATE EM!.....I've seen three incidents with em.....A local retired brown bear guide with 40+ years of experience asks clients to put duct tape over their floor plates.....so much for nice wood stocks!

I prefer the Hogue overmolded aluminum bedded stock over just about anything I've ever had, laminate, wood, tupperware, and boat materials included. It warms to the touch, is grippy, and quiet. It's heavier but a light .375 is kind of an oxymoron. I have less than $1800 in my Winchester. If I lost it, I believe I'd build another just like it due to the particular handling traits and comfort.

My m70 sits in a Legend and it wears irons and it's all fine.

I have one.

I love it and have used it extensivelly.
Mine has an issue with flat bullet on a full magazine, it jammed.
Once I changed bullet designs to a pointed bullets I had no issues.

I found this out on my first hunt with the rifle after hiting a black bear once. I filled the mag and got a jam. (floor plate would have been very nice as they are very difficult to unjam, it involved a knife and lots of blood)
Now if I use flat bullets , I only load 3. Outside of that the rifle is just about perfect.
Fast to point, great balence , great trigger and great recoil management and all this right out of the box.
I would hunt anything with this rifle.
FYI now I cycle every cartidge type through any new rifle I acquire before the hunt and not just a few times on a bench.

I hope this helps

PS, we found the bear dead shortly after we cleared the rifle but it was an exiting few minutes watching him move away while I fiddled with the jammed shell

Geezus.....

Anyone think there's a lesson here?

Glad it worked out OK for you with the bear.

That it takes a special gunmaker to build a FTF for one of the easiest cycling cartridges ever made? :~)

Well, not quite...but you're right about easy cycling cartridges

What comes to my mind is if it won't feed certain bullets, fix it until it does or ditch it.It isn't worth shidt if it won't feed everything.At least know in advance what works.

Second,blind magazines eventually lead to rodeos like this.And bullets aren't the only things that cause jams.Function is everything.Other possibilities include debris,broken off plastic tips from bullets,ice,dirt,etc.In any event the ability to access a magazine from the bottom is a good thing.

Third, if floorplates pop open it's because (a)the design sucks;buy a good one that won't open (b)it's broken...fix it, or (c)you're a klutz and didn't close it properly.The guide who insists clients use duct tape on floorplates has no control over the crap his clients bring to hunt with.

Amazing to me that people condemn all floorplates based on lousy designs popping open on them.Don't they shoot them at the range to find problems and fix them before a hunt?

If it opens, it's broke.Fix it or buy one that works the way it's supposed to.

That was a black bear that ran the other way...funny to think if it had been brown bear going in the opposite direction.

Rant over.

all these stories seem to make the case over and over for a properly tuned 375 as the beau ideal for the average hunter covering many species of varying degrees of potential lethality under a wide range of conditions - blonde, brunette and redheaded ladies excepted, of course!

I have to agree with BobH here, as I often seem to find myself doing as I have experienced a blind mag. problem and a few bobbles with rifles due to gunk getting into the action. I simply use tuned, tested CRF rifles with VERY stout floorplates, prefer the Mod. 70 design latch and have not had an issue in many moons.

My favourites for the roughest use, are Brno ZG-47s and my Dakota 76, .338WM, which is nearly perfect, after one of Ralf Martini's outworkers customized it for me. This is Jan Kolenbrander and he is both a nice guy and a FINE 'smith.

I now kinda wish I had bought one of Darcy's magazine assemblies and had Jan and Ralf install that in the Dakota, making it a svelte 4+1 .338WM, my idea of "perfection" in a serious BC hunting-wilderness working rifle.

A well-tuned Mod. 70, Classic or P-64 is also a fine choice as are the excellent FN actions from "the good old days" and there are lots of them available.

If the mag latch is properly fitted, it won't come open. D'Arcy Echols fits a mag latch such that it won't open after a full mag of rounds are fired with the latch spring removed. If it's popping open, it's not fitted right.

I have a M-70 Stainless Classic .375 H&H that Redneck worked on. I can cycle a full mag of empty cases through the action as fast as I can work the bolt. Slick, no problems.

DF

DF,

same with the 375 I just got back from Redneck. Tanner was kind enough to repost some pics a page or so back. tomorrow it goes out for NP3 on the bolt and internals as the receiver is CM and the barrel SS.

I keep thinking I want to build a companion in 3006 and may but this is a seriously good rifle.

I'm waiting for D'Arcy to send me a Legend. I plan to cut the quite heavy 24" tube to 22" and mount NECG ramp and rear sights. I'll get a barrel band fitted and install a SS rear sling stud on the Legend.

I have a Zeiss Victory 1.5-6x42 T* I got from FOsteology. I'm going to mount it on this rifle with Weaver compatible QD rings, probably Warne or Leupold, using steel Warne bases.

I'll post photos when I get it put together.

DF

Looking forward to the pics. Mine comes in at a tad over 9lbs all up.

I have one of the early Caprivis in .375. Beautiful rifle, great wood, will shoot under an inch @ 100 yards with 300 grain Federal factory TSX, but doesn't like
270 grain bullets much.

Mine does not feed well with four rounds in the magazine, the stated capacity. Kimber service could not make it work and at SCI, one of the reps said "we know--they all do that." So I carry it with a round up and three rounds down and it works absolutely perfectly in that mode. IMO, it's a $6K rifle in overall quality for $3K.

Recently shot a new Winchester Safari in .375 that belonged to a friend. Accurate, excellent trigger, smooth action. A lot of rifle for the money.

There are lots of good 375's out there that work well, the two Kimbers among them from what I hear but I have not shot them personally.

For me it's question of allocating resources and if I am going to part out with $3k+ to buy a 375H&H,I'll dig around for a pre 64 M70.It'll stay in wood long as I want it to,but the best thing is to drop another grand and stick it in an Echols Legend.

More expensive maybe,to be sure but as goof proof as it gets and will last a few lifetimes.

In my mind the 375 H&H (and also 300 H&H) have Model 70 written all over them.

I totally agree, have owned and extensively used three original P-64s in .375 and one re-tubed "shorty" on that action. I also have had four P-64s in .300 H&H and I found all of these to SHOOT and they just handle so well in field positions.

I would bet that, IF, Winny re-introduced these two made to early 1950's quality standards and with one of the unobtrusive 3-pos safety shrouds that has the recess for the bolt release tab and covers the gap at the end of the left raceway, they could sell all they could produce at 5-6 K per rifle. I wish they would. while I am good to go with my minty pair of Rimrock-stocked .375-.300 plus my custom "shorty", I know lOTS of guys who would buy these for hunting, which is what they are best used for.